Red's Untold Tale
Red's Untold Tale is an official canon companion novel tie-in to Once Upon a Time. Summary It's Wolfstime, the foreboding period around each full moon when villagers must protect their homes and families against the giant, ferocious wolves that roam the forest. On the day Red turned thirteen, Granny gave her a special red cloak upon which a spell had been cast to protect Red from wolves. Red is now sixteen and is desperately trying to fit in among her peers, save Granny's failing bakery business, and, of course, protect herself from wolves. Her crush on Peter and her determination not to let the mean girls sabotage her blossoming romance cause Red to make some questionable decisions. Will these choices let the wolves in? Will Red pick the right battle? Will her skills be strong enough to keep her alive? Plot The main narrative takes place over the course of Wolfstime (one week), set when Red is sixteen years old: *'Saturday, May 12': The novel starts with one of Red's Wolfstime-related dreams, before she wakes up early on the day of Peter's birthday, wanting to bake him a cake. To her surprise, Granny too is up early and there to disapprove her granddaughter's poor baking skills, before announcing that Red is not only to deliver orders for her baking business, but also to go door-to-door attempting to sell baked goods. This doesn't go too well for Red, who then unwinds by taking a dip in the local watering hole with Peter. She is devastated when she realizes she lost her golden cross necklace - given to her by her mother Anita - somewhere at the pond, and goes looking for it that night on her way to Peter's bonfire birthday party in the woods (having laced Granny's cider with poppy dust so that she could sneak out), to no avail. At the party, her cake is destroyed by Violet Roberts and her lackeys Florence and Beatrice, who tease her mercilessly and embarrass her into hiding; Granny then shows up with her crossbow in an odd poppy-induced state, warning the teenagers that they should go home lest they want to get eaten by wolves. Red is surprised to learn that Granny has been petitioning to get the Forget-Me-Not ball, an annual village tradition, closed down, before going home with her. She has another dream that night. (Chapters 1-5) *'Sunday, May 13': Red wakes up expecting to suffer Granny's punishment, but instead she's sent to go buy milk from Mrs. Roberts, Violet's mother. While there, she learns from a overly smug Violet that, after she and her grandmother left the party, Violet danced with Peter... and kissed him; and he promised to save her his first dance at the Forget-Me-Not ball. Red is devastated to hear this, and Mrs. Roberts keeps insisting that she take the milk for free, pitying her and her Granny's failing bakery business. It's on her way home that Red drops the milk, because she is startled by some odd sounds that she thinks might be one of the wolves that plague the village. As it turns out, it's Peter, who found her golden cross necklace and wishes to return it to her. They share a remotely intimate moment as he places it back on her neck, and he expresses sorrow that he never got to eat the cake he heard she baked for him. When he realizes that he made her spill her milk, he gives her some of his family's, to her gratitude. When she returns home, Granny tells her to prepare herself for Wolfstime. (Chapters 5-7) *'Monday, May 14': More dreams, and Red wakes up to a horrible sight - all her and Granny's chickens have been slaughtered by the wolf, but Granny assures that it's no matter because they'll have the money to buy more after Red's teacher Miss Cates pays for the muffins she ordered. However, when Red gets to school, Miss Cates - who wants Granny to bake her wedding cake - reveals that she ordered no muffins, and Red is forced to realize that Violet orchestrated this little mix-up, deciding to give out the baked goods as free samples for the students to avoid letting the bully win. Her basket is left outside during class, allowing Florence to fill it with a cow pie when she pretends to go the restroom. Red is seething as she cleans it off in the river, and even more so when Peter arrives, wanting to know what's wrong, and ends up confirming that he indeed did promise Violet his first dance at the Forget-Me-Not ball. Later, at the market, a man named Hershel Worthington reveals that Red can't set up stall because there's a new marketing fee, and that Granny is behind on her taxes. Without enough money to both buy everything she and Granny need and replace the chickens they lost in the night, Red uses the distraction caused by a commotion at town hall to steal some produce, and is almost caught by Tucker Williamson. In order to stop him from checking her basket, she kisses him, and she is mortified when she arrives at town hall to find Granny still trying to get the ball shut down, as well as Violet, who saw the kiss. (Chapters 8-11) *'Tuesday, May 15': After a particularly daunting Wolfstime dream, Red is woken up by Granny, not wanting to go to school. Granny makes her though, after commending her granddaughter on acquiring ore chickens and confirming that their taxes really are overdue, and that they have until Thursday to pay them. Red feels incredibly awkward when she sees Tucker Williamson, who chose today of all days not to skip school; he is soon seen conversing with Violet, who obviously coerces him into exclaiming that he kissed Red, for everyone to hear. Red is mortified, and Peter is noticeably upset. He wonders why she would kiss someone so beneath her, and she wonders the same thing about him, wanting to know the circumstances surrounding his kiss with Violet on the night of the bonfire. As it turns out, he only agreed to dance with and kiss her in order to find out which direction Red had gone in after she disappeared from the party, because he was worried about her. It is this that leads Red to realize that she's falling in love with Peter, which only adds to the turmoil she's experiencing thanks to the whole Tucker debacle. When she returns home, Granny is slaving over some baked goods, the scar on her arm hurting more than ever. Red feels bad seeing Granny work so hard, but is happy that the free samples she handed out really did lead to more orders, hoping to help out in the morning to ease Granny's workload. (Chapter 11) *'Wednesday, May 16': Red wakes up in the middle of the night thanks to her dreams, alerting Granny to the nightmare; however, she attempts to shrug it off as nothing as she wants Granny to go back to sleep. Once she does, Red sneaks downstairs to begin baking cookies, so as to help her grandmother out. Unfortunately, she dozes off and nearly burns the house down, before heading out on her rounds and managing to sell six dozen of her shortbread cookies to Amos Slade... as dog biscuits, for they are inedible to humans. After realizing that re-marketing the cookies could bring in extra business, Red decides to bake even more, but begins to feel sorry when she notices Granny's scar is continually causing her pain. She wishes for a magical way to stop it from hurting and so finds the box her cloak came in to see that the note from the wizard is written in bilberry ink. She recalls having found bilberries near a cave once six years ago, and decides she wants to trek there the following morning to find the wizard to cure Granny's injury. (Chapters 12-13) *'Thursday, May 17': After noticing that she's skipping school, Peter insists on going with Red on her quest, and she allows him to do so on the condition that he never tell a soul where they're going or why. They eventually find the cave where the bilberries were and a talking crow leads them to the wizard's cottage. His name is Knubbin, and he only allows Red into his home, forcing Peter to wait outside. As it turns out, not only did he enchant Red's cloak, but also her mother's cross necklace; its enchantment makes it so that her Wolfstime dreams would be more vivid, so as to demystify them. He also removed a memory from Granny's head - the memory of the day her husband died. In exchange for the riding hood, she had to take it back, and the pain of her scar is the physical manifestation of the pain that that memory now gives her. Red feels awful and pays Knubbin with a pie and her "Adventure fund" for a magical salve that will relieve Granny's pain; he initially refuses, but decides to do so in the end, telling her to return the following day to collect it. She treks back with Peter, although his mind has been wiped of meeting the wizard, and the two of them share a dance... before getting into a fight, and then Red returns home where Granny is waiting for her; thanks to Violet, she knows she skipped school with a boy, and fears Red is going down the same path as her mother. An argument ensues in which Red threatens to run away, but then Hershel Worthington returns and explains that, because Granny hasn't paid her taxes, she and her granddaughter have been evicted. Red chases him down to a tavern and uses her magic golden cross pendant as payment, then running into Peter and telling him the truth about everything, including her thieving exploits, and she garners his forgiveness. She garners Granny's as well when she returns home and explains that the debt has been cleared, and a grateful Granny finally admits to her granddaughter that her mother died after having had a fight with her father, before chasing him into the woods where the two of them were shot by hunters. Feeling a particular hatred for wolves, Red adds rat poison to some of her dog biscuits and leaves them out for the creature to eat. She then retires to bed, her thoughts going out to Peter in the hunting party. (Chapters 13-18) *'Friday, May 18': Red's plan didn't work, and the chickens have once again been slaughtered when she goes to check on them, as has Amos Slade, whose savaged dead body she discovers. She is comforted by Peter, with whom she shares a kiss, and Granny is later particularly sad to hear the news, leading Red to realize that she and Slade shared something. Red then goes back to Knubbin's cottage to retrieve the magic salve; however, it's missing one crucial ingredient - water from Lake Nostos. When she returns, a village meeting is called and Red manages to get the Forget-Me-Not ball postponed in light of recent events. Violet is not happy about this, while Peter inadvertently adopts Slade's dog (which he later names Copper). He and Red ditch the meeting to go to the swimming hole where he returns her golden cross necklace, revealing that he made another and switched it with the one she gave to Hershel Worthington when he appeared at the meeting. She is grateful, and when she tells him of her plan to go to Lake Nostos he says she doesn't have to because she's already garnered enough goodwill with Granny with all the amazing things she's done; he admits that he loves her, and they share further kisses. That night, Red is woken up by a scream and discovers Violet being attacked by the wolf. She shoots it with the silver-tipped arrow gifted to her by Peter and it goes down, to the joy of the whole village. Red is celebrated as a hero, but the creature's body soon disappears, and Granny and Red both hear a wolf's howl... (Chapters 18-22) The novel also contains a number of flashbacks, adding further detail to Red's past: *'April, ten years ago': Peter walks Red home from school for the first time and meets Granny, who takes a rather instant disliking to the boy. (Chapter 2) *'June, ten years ago': Amos Slade goes around selling flowers and leaves a bouquet for Granny on her doorstep. (Chapter 19) *'June, eight years ago': Granny reads Red a fairytale about King and Queen Nostos; how the King leered at a washerwoman and the jealous Queen had a curse put on her to confine her to the waters. But then the washerwoman turned powerful and made her spring into a lake that swallowed the royal castle whole, and now Lake Nostos has the ability to cure curses. Red wonders if this story is true, but Granny assures her it's just a fairytale. (Chapter 12) *'January, five years ago': Granny and Red go the the blacksmith workshop where Peter's father works to get a dozen arrowheads, allowing Red to spend some alone-time with Peter, who gives her a special arrowhead that he welded himself. (Chapter 4) *'November, three and a half years ago': On Red's thirteenth birthday, Granny gives her a very special present - the red cloak that will come to serve as her namesake, which she explains has been enchanted by a wizard to repel wolves. Red tries it on and loves it immediately. (Chapter 3) *'November, three and a half years ago': Red goes to school for the first time in her new cloak, to the admiration of most the school. Violet Roberts though makes some remarks about her being a "lady in red", and spreads malicious rumors throughout the student body after giving her the nickname "Red". This new reputation leads to a boy, Tucker Williamson, attempting to kiss her, but Peter defends Red's honor. When he uses her new nickname, she decides that she loves it. (Chapter 9) *'December, three and a half years ago': Red wakes up due to a nightmare and discovers a golden cross pendant under her bed, which Granny explains belonged to her mother. She threads it for Red to wear as a necklace, and Red vows to wear it always. (Chapter 17) *'February, three years ago': Red is so excited to have been invited to a picnic by Violet Roberts and her friends, but arrives to discover a snowman has been built to look like her, with a red tablecloth wrapped around it mockingly. She's then pelted with snowballs and taunted harshly, heading home after where she receives some words of comfort from Granny. (Chapter 6) Characters *Granny *Peter *Red Riding Hood 'New Characters' *Amos Slade *Beatrice *Benjamin Filbert *Copper *Dr. Curtis *Ezekiel *Farmer Thompson *Fernie Thompson *Florence *Gregory Oliver *Gretchen *Heathcliff *Hershel Worthington *Jenkins *Knubbin *Miss Cates *Mrs. Filbert *Mr. Roberts *Mrs. Roberts *Mrs. Thompson *Peter's father *Peter's brother *"Pirate Boy" *Priscilla Hanks *Roy *Seamstress Evans *Shoemaker *Tavern Customer #1 *Tavern Customer #2 *Timothy *Tucker Williamson *Vicar Clemmons *Violet Roberts *Willie *Wolf *Woman Category:Books